This invention relates to a method of forming an article.
The laser or electron beam sintering/melting of powdered materials to form solid parts is now well known—though not so well known as for there to be an established nomenclature. In particular there are commercial powder bed ‘Selective Laser Sintering’/‘Selective Laser Melting’ (SLS/SLM) machines such as the M270 produced by Electron Optical Systems (EOS) M270 and the Realizer II marketed by MCP. These take metal powders under an inert atmosphere and direct a CO2 or fibre laser onto a layer of powder.
There are also other similar powder bed machines sometimes using an electron beam and somewhat related processes where there is no bed of powder, but the powder is ejected from a nozzle proximate the laser such as in the Trumpf DMD 505. These processes are called such things as ‘Direct Laser Fabrication’ or ‘Direct Metal Deposition’.
In the ‘powder bed’ processes a point source of energy such as a laser or electron beam is selectively applied to a layer of powder and in related processes a powder/thermal source is directed as required on a layer by layer basis to build up a 3D part from a ‘slicing’ of a design file. In both cases the heat from the thermal source melts or sinters the powder layer by layer to form a solid that may be further processed to fully solidify or render useful by various means not relevant to this disclosure.
In these methods whilst it is possible to build complex parts it is however not possible to commence the building of a part in the bulk of a powder bed or free space—the powder must be melted and fused to a solid structure. And in the case of building a free standing object (as opposed to repairing an existing object by adding material) this commences with a platen upon which powder is melted/sintered and fused.
There are numerous well known reasons why the desired part must start at a solid object and these include:                1. The as-built part contains significant thermally induced stresses capable of bending a 36 mm thick 250 mm by 250 mm tool steel platen- or delaminating the built part away from the platen if the interface is not sufficiently strong.        2. Addressing the point source of heat to a bed of powder causes the powder to locally melt and then ball up into ‘weld spatter’ unless it is able to wet and adhere to an existing solid object. This also means that certain shapes require ‘scaffolding’ of supports extending from a solid part to enable wetting and mechanical stability.        
Given that the desired part to be built must be attached to a platen then there must also be an intermediate layer which provides a thickness in which a cut can take place to separate the part, once built, from the platen. It is therefore the case that the prior art includes support structures and these have consisted of solid material, hollow shells and a cross hatched structure of discrete walls called ‘EOSTYLE’ supports.
After completing the build of a part there may be voids containing unmelted powder contained between the formed shape made of melted powder and the platen. And in the case of non solid supports there will be unmelted powder contained within them. This unmelted powder presents numerous problems to subsequent processing.
Firstly, to remove the stresses inherent in the as-built part a thermal process is needed for all but the smallest parts (such as dental inlays) whilst the part is still firmly attached to the platen. Some desirable thermal processes are sufficiently hot as to melt the loose powder thereby solidifying it in enclosed voids.
Secondly, to cut the part from the platen may require a wire Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) process, particularly for hard alloys such as cobalt chrome. Loose powder contained within voids shorts out the wire in the EDM process presenting significant difficulties and additional costs for this process.
Thirdly, if cutting with a saw, lubricant may be used and the loose powder then mixes with the lubricant creating difficulties.
Fourthly, the metal powder may be hazardous to health, or valuable (such as in the case of titanium alloys). Hazard control and powder recycling is best performed prior to further processing.
For these and other reasons it is therefore advantageous to have a method of removing powder contained within voids whilst the built part is still attached to the base plate and before heating or cutting operations—and yet the part must be firmly attached to the base plate because of the thermal stresses inherent in the process.
It is not trivial to conceive of support structures that meet the requirement of:                1. Enabling substantially all trapped loose powder to be removed by e.g. gravity, tapping, vacuum or blowing and,        2. Providing a sufficiently firm anchorage during building of the part to the platen to resist delamination and,        3. Not being a solid—(which is time consuming to build and negates much of the benefit of the process-cutting a solid support from a complex solid shape is difficult and costly and negates a benefit of the powder process) and,        4. Is capable of being reliably produced by the laser sintering/melting process.        
In particular it should also be understood that the laser sintering/melting process is not capable of making any and all structures and in particular cannot reliably make free standing thin pillars.
From one aspect the invention is an intermediate grooved or channelled solid layer that is built by the laser sintering/melting process between the platen and the desired part built.
This built channelled layer is either an intermediate layer below the prior art supports and/or is at least a part of the support itself including an entirely solid support with channels. If the deposition process is a powder bed process (using a recoater blade) then preferably the grooves/channels are built to lie in the line of traverse of the recoater blade. The grooves/channels are sufficiently wide as to allow loose powder to be removed whilst the built part is still attached to the base plate and before any further processing.
Typically the powder used in a laser sintering/melting process is spherical and of a D50 of 20-100 microns and in particular has a mean diameter of about 50 microns. A groove or channel that can be reliably built by the process is of the order of 0.5 mm in width.
A preferable grooved structure is of a 0.5 mm wall/rib thickness and 0.5 mm gap giving a 50% solid upper surface.
Surprisingly a 50/50 0.5 mm rib/gap structure is both physically sufficient to build solid parts upon (i.e. the laser sintering/meting process can bridge the gaps) and strong enough to prevent delamination of built parts from the platen either during the build process or during a subsequent heat treatment. Also, the 0.5 mm walls of the support are relatively easy to remove from the built parts.
From another aspect the invention consists in a method of forming a support for use in a selective sintering or melting process including forming a body on a platen having a plurality of generally parallel channels each channel being open at least one end. The base of the channels may be formed by the platen. Preferably the support is formed by a selective sintering or melting process.
According to a further aspect the invention includes a support for use in the selective sintering or melting process including a plurality of spaced generally parallel walls defining grooves or channels therebetween each groove or channel being open at least one end thereof.
From a still further aspect the invention consists in a method of forming an article utilising a selective sintering or melting process including:                (a) building by means of a selective sintering or melting process a support defining a plurality of generally parallel channels open at least one end on a platen;        (b) building an article on top of the support;        (c) removing loose material from the channels through the open ends; and        (d) heat treating the article.        
The method may further include cutting the support from the platen and subsequently removing the article from the support. The article and support may be formed, in part, contemporaneously.
The support may be made using a method including forming layers of powder using a powder recoater blade which traverses the platen and wherein the channels or grooves are substantially aligned with the direction of travel of the blade.
This alignment in particularly beneficial because it reduces any lateral forces applied to the walls by the blade.
The arrangement described above is suitable for forming many objects, but when the article has a significant length in one dimension it has been found that the internal stress in the support can cause the walls, which define the grooves, to be pulled inwardly.
Thus from another aspect the invention consists in a method of forming a support for use in a selective sintering or melting process including forming, on a platen, a support having a plurality of generally grooves or channels, each groove or channel being open at least one end.
Preferably by a selective sintering or melting process.
The invention also includes a support for use in a selective sintering or melting process including a plurality of spaced generally parallel walls defining grooves or channels therebetween each groove or channel being open at least one end thereof. Alternatively the support may be formed in a criss cross web. For example the web may be made up of two sets of parallel walls, the sets being mutually inclined so that they intersect periodically.
The invention also consists in a method of forming an article utilising a selective sintering or melting process including:                (a) building by means of a selective sintering or melting process a support defining a plurality of generally parallel grooves or channels open at least one end of a platen;        (b) building an article on top of the support;        (c) removing loose material from the channels through the open ends; and        (d) heat treating the article.        
In this method the support may be as defined above or formed by the method set out above or below in any event the article and the support may be formed in part contemporaneously.
The support may be made using a method including forming layers of powder using a powder re-coater blade which traverses the platen and wherein the channels or grooves are substantially aligned with the direction of travel of the blade.
From a further aspect the invention may include a method of forming a support for use in sintering including forming on a platen a support defining plurality of generally parallel grooves or channels each being open at least one end wherein the grooves are defined between walls which are progressively formed in a criss cross web.
The web may be made up of two sets of parallel walls, the sets being mutually inclined so that they intersect periodically.
The method may include building a series of aligned blocks of supports with a gap between adjacent ends of the support such that the channels or grooves debouch into the gaps.
The face of at least one support, which defines one wall of the gap may be inclined relative to the length of the groove or channel such that a re-coater blade travelling in the direction of the face with not impinge on the full width of the support simultaneously. The angle of inclination may be about 5°.
Although the invention has been defined above it is to be understood it includes any inventive combination of the features set out above or in the following description.